Coming on Saddle from Wyoming

[stteardrop]

Actually, I'm not a cowgirl, I just live in the cowboy state. My personal saddle has run amuk - spilling over the saddle all over the place!!

My reason for coming here is that I have changed by employment status and I no longer qualify for employee benefits. I have been rejected by 1 insurance company so far because of "height and weight". I expect my second rejection any day now. My BMI is 35 - clinically obese. I have high blood pressure and was recently diagnosed with spine osteoporosis, hip osteopenia. I'm only 51 and my medical history is starting to look like 65.

I don't now and never really did FEEL fat unless I looked in a mirror. What used to be my great pleasure is that the mirror in my bedroom actually makes everyone look rather thin. My friends love my mirror and always did too. Now I feel like breaking it because it's been helping me to decieve myself. I have to admit at last that I am FAT!!!

I don't have the raw diet book yet, but I will be ordering it at the end of the month when I get paid. It's a great time to get started as that's about the time I also go grocery shopping. I'm a chronic chocoholic and have been for YEARS. In fact my road to obesity started with Friday night boxes of donuts while watching Family Matters. I was good for about 4-5 donuts between 5:30 pm and 11 pm when I went to bed. I though it was only once a week, no harm could come. Well, 5 pounds gained every time I stepped on the scale. So I stopped stepping on the scale!! Great solution isn't it!?!?

Oh well. Here I am now, a member of the fat camp, and unable to get health insurance. I'm so depressed right now. :(

Hello to everyone and when I get my book, I hope to be posting here regularly.

[stteardrop]

I saw the diet challenge on the Tyra Banks show. I discovered that I love fruit smoothies and I've been interested in trying "green smoothies". My first objective is to give up McDonald's on Tuesday nights and do a green smoothie instead. I will have to chip away at this new diet so that I don't get discouraged and give up.

So if there are some recipes out there for green smoothies that you have tried, I would be interested in having them. I have never been much of a red meat eater. My weakness after chocolate is anything that looks and tastes like bread. I don't particularly care for pasta either. Giving up muffins, cakes, cupcakes, donuts, pancakes, waffles, short breads, loaf breads, sandwiches, and the like is going to be really really hard. :o

I have a week to get used to the idea that what I'm eating now will be the last lick of "bad" foods. :p Boy I hope I can do this.

[MrsJohnnyG]

Welcome, welcome! This is a WONDERFUL, welcoming community who will support you every step of the way... I know how bizarre it is to think of giving up all those foods, but trust me, after a few weeks of eating raw you will lose your cravings for them! Adding green smoothies in the meantime is a fantastic first start. You're on your way!

[Raw Yogini]

Welcome! AND You absolutely CAN do it! I think baby spinach is pretty mild tasting and a great green to start green smoothies with. Frozen blueberries are good and change the color to purple which, at least for my kids, makes it easier to drink. I like the flavor a banana adds, too. So a great one would be baby spinach, blueberries and a banana. BTW, where in WY? I'm in Idaho Falls which is really close to the western part of WY.

[Frugal Raw]

Welcome!! I wish you the best of rawesome health!!

[RawHeaven]

welcome stearrdrop. i hope you reach all of your health goals. you can do it! what you've shared about donuts has me flashing back to when my midde name was entenmann's :eek:. my weekly routine included purchasing a couple of boxes on friday evening and polishing them off before saturday afternoon. this was many years ago. something about friday evenings and eating junk food. i'm a recovering chocoholic too and you will be delighted to discover there are tons of raw choc treats you can have! it's a journey and give yourself lots of room to grow. you've already taken the first step...

what's that Lao-Tzu famous saying?


a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.


green and juice smoothies will work wonders for you to kick the mickey d's habit. but a gauranteed way to do it is simply watch 3 minutes of the documentary, Supersize Me. you will never set foot in there again.

Good luck!

[Pansy]

Welcome! :)

[Anastazia]

Hi, and welcome, & you can post here regularily even BEFORE you get the book!

Won't it be wonderful when you can go in, re-apply, & be accepted for insurance coverage? Keep picturing that day, & know it's not that far away!

Find a way to move your body more that you enjoy...walking daily is really beneficial, & convenient, & easy to do, rebounding (mini-trampoline, which also helps clear the lymphatic system, which is very healing to do!) & set some realistic goals to increase your movements daily, & also, ensuring you get enough sleep helps weight come off (in fact, it's now been proven that not enough sleep leads to belly fat)...

...also, eat as much organic as possible, it really does make a difference, especially when you begin consuming way more produce than usual...keep bowls of fruit around, carry it (& veggies etc.) with you as you go through your day...a good word of wisdom someone here gave us is ALWAYS take more food with you than you think you'll need...in case you end up staying out longer than you expect, & to help you avoid temptation!)

You can be one of those who goes from feeling 65 to feeling like you're 25 again! (I feel at least that old many days, & am aiming for 16 again! Lol! When I'm consistant with raw :rolleyes: I feel younger & healthier every week! )

Remember to take pics & meansurements, so you can share how far you've come as you meet, reach, & exceed your goals! {We'll all be like this: :eek: }

You CAN do this! Have fun along the way! :D
~Anastazia~
(A former chocoholic who loves the raw chocolate recipes!!! The pudding/mouse one in on my blog with pics, & floating around here someplace, too! Others will tell you to check the banana, whatever that means! Some mysterious rawfoodtalk way of searching for recipes is all I've figured out so far! *grin*)

[Gittel]

Welcome, stteardrop! We're glad that you're here.

One thing that helps me stay raw is to drink, drink, drink...water. I even keep a case of bottled water in my car to have as I run from here to there.

Best wishes on your raw journey to health. You can do this.

Gittel

[spicyfull]

I wish you everything you need to Stay RAW..........Welcome to MY World.

[jacsam]

As far as green smoothies....just make your fruit smoothies but add a handful of baby spinach leaves and there you go a green smoothie. You can experiment from there. You'll do great IF you want to and it sounds like you do. WELCOME!!!

[Pilgrim]

Welcome and good luck!

There are a lot of good recipes for Green Smoothies. I also have been playing with raw fudge, so if you are a chocoholic, there's hope!

Read Alissa's book. She has a lot of great advice. The most helpful bit for me was to go cold turkey raw. If you try to go 80% or 70% or even 90%, the cravings will continue but if you go 100% raw and stick with it, it's actually easier (in my opinion).

Good luck! Everyone here is rooting for you!

[stteardrop]

Thank you all for making a reply to my introduction.

My Friday night donuts was actually the start of some serious depression. Lost my boyfriend - the "love of my life". For the first time ever I was all alone. The usual story. Eating my way to self-comfort.

I did watch the documentary on eating for 30 days at McDonalds. I tend to be a skeptic. I am sure that I saw him with 2 drinks and a burger that got small and then slightly bigger again. I think he was double ordering. But all skeptizism aside, I KNOW I could not eat for a whole month at McDonalds and the reason I know this is because I have "overdosed" on food types before. The all-day chocolate venture or the stuff-myself-with-fries all-day holiday. I actually can have too much of a good thing!! :mad: Unfortunately, I wake up the next morning ready to dive into chocolate again!! :rolleyes:

I like the tip about adding greens to my fruit smoothies and working my way up. That sounds like a good suggestion!! I love spinach and I eat it at least once a week on my Subway sandwich. My other "sin" is that Thursday night is Subway and Survivor! :D And when Survivor is done (like right now), I make substitution with Big Brother or Hell's Kitchen, etc. Never substitute on the Subway though.

Well, I just bought the book before coming here and it should be on my lap in about a week. Being rejected in any way, shape, or form is hard. A blow to the self-esteem, albeit a necessary one to wake me up.

That reminds me! I love cooked dried beans and I have a recipe for fudge made from pinto beans that I have been wanting to try. Unfortunately, the beans are cooked. So I probably won't be able to try them once I get tough with this raw food diet. Just when I was getting used to the "musical fruit" -- toot, toot, toot! :D Perhaps I can make this a cheat food when I decide to reward my hard work with a little tiny "sin".

[stteardrop]

I forgot to mention that I live in Lander. I hope another benefit of this raw diet is memory improvement!! I have to keep posting "oh yeah" all the time. :mad:

I should say as well that I am a medical transcriptionist. I don't like health food fanatics per se and people who subscribe to the idea that modern medicine is the evil spawn of Satan. I like to be balanced in my thinking. Had it not been for modern medicine, I would have died at age 27. I have been around people who do think in the far left when it comes to food and health care. I had a friend who went to extremes and ended up in the hospital on dialysis from the damage caused by the recommendations of a holistic massage therapist.

I only say this because I really want to approach this with balance. I read a post at Amazon.com from a man who bought a raw food diet book where he said that any elimination of unhealthy foods is a good thing and it doesn't take extremes to actually be heathier. I agree with that middle-road view. But again, I didn't get a BMI of 35 because I was disciplined either!! So I know that my attitude does have to change some.

I hope you don't find this post a bit flaming as I didn't intend for it to be. Just my personal opinion.

[StarFire]

Aloha and Welcome to RFT!! I looved your post... you had me giggling all the way through it!!

I know you will do great!!
blessings on your journey -- RAWk on... and enjoy the ride!!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/welcome.gif

[Stina]

Hey, the Rainbow Family Gathering is going to be in Wyoming this summer. I'd so highly recommend going. It'd give you some deep spiritual inspiration. Sprout Camp could help you out with live food.